Warnings from the computer

Messages that your computer gives you on your screen should always be read and considered.
I guess we have all fallen victim to the computer message that says "Do
you want to save your document?" and, without a moments thought,
we cancelled the message to find we just lost an hours work!

Occasionally your computer will give you unexpected messages in an effort to warn you that your computer has a problem! These message may be difficult to understand as they are not written in plain language. They may also be quite lengthy and this inhibits people from reading them or writing them down.

As a general rule any time an unexpected or unusual notice is displayed on your screen, you should STOP, CONSIDER and WRITE DOWN the message. If you do this, and your computer is developing a major issue, you are a long way towards solving the issue or at least providing really important information to a computer fixer.

Here are some warnings that you might see and should definitely consider carefully:

"System has recovered from a serious error"

"Immediately back up your data and replace your hard disk drive. A failure may be immenent. Press F1 to continue"

"You are running out of disk space on Local Disk [drive]."

"This site may harm your computer"

"This type of file could harm your computer"

"The directory or file is corrupt and unreadable"

This list of important computer warnings is by no means complete. Furthermore, not all warnings on your screen spell gloom and doom. If you dont know whether a computer warning is major or minor, then take the time to look it up on the Internet. Search for the error message on the Internet by typing the message exactly as written on your screen. If the error message is very long, type just the first 6-8 words exactly as written on your screen.

Information about errors on the Internet

It will be the case that many of the pages on the internet that you find about the error will be "forums". These are sites were people can create a login and share ideas. These sites are often used by people either seeking help with computers or providing help with computers. It is often the case that you have to sift through many useless comments, or pleas for help, before you find some golden information. Some degree of patience is required to sift though not only one page, but several pages on several sites. You won't always be lucky but the majority of the time you can glean enough information to make your search worthwhile. Even if you just get the gist of whether the error is minor or serious.

Taking action on error messages

It should never be presumed that every time you press the 'on button' of your computer, it will boot up without fail. Most computer users will have experienced that sinking feeling when one day, your computer does not boot into your operating system (Windows, MAC OS). If you get a warning from your computer, it could be that the next time you try to start your computer, it will fail. It is therefore necessary to (a) research error messages and (b) backup your files. You should be backing up regularly but, in reality, most people do not. It's a combination of lack of skills, lack of awareness of risks and laziness. If you regularly back up your files, the consequences of computer failure are never that bad. You might be put to some expense and inconvenience but your irreplacebale libraries of family photos and important documents are saved.

Another action you can take is discuss your computer error message with your friendly neighbourhood computer man. You need somebody who has good experience in fixing computers not the whizz kid who thinks he's good with computers.

The sort of advice that you might get is to replace your hard disk drive, before its too late. Some types of error messages are caused by old and failing disk drives. For an experienced computer fixer, it is an easy job to 'clone' your hard drive to a new hard drive but only while the operating system still works. So the earlier you take action the better. The cost of replacing a hard disk before it becomes a major problem will always be much less that the cost of replacing it after it has failed.